Location: Friwen Island, Raja Ampat
Hey team!! My name is Anabelle, and this is my 12th day at Seamester. I am having an amazing time and learning and seeing so many new things! My two other buddies, Reagan and Kylie, and I are new to the crew, but everyone is settling in nicely. When I first got on Argo, it was a little intimidating to meet the people I was going to spend the next 40 days with. Thankfully, everyone has been so warm and welcoming that it’s hard to imagine ever being nervous. Eleanor and Sidney are my roommates, and they have made my transition enjoyable! What a great first day we had in Raja Ampat! Today I started my morning with a 5:30 am wake up for watch! Watch sounds hard, and sometimes it is, but my watch team, Sidney, Beck, Iain, Anna, and Kackie, make it so much fun once you’re awake. You’re just hanging out with your friends. We sailed into Friwen Island at 9 am, and I got to help lower the anchor. Today was my first time being skipper, and it was great! This morning, Anna made pancakes, and they were absolutely delicious. After breakfast, we got to get into the water for the first time in 5 days, and the water here is so warm and clear. We got to swim and have free time until lunch. Our free time consisted of doing flips off the bow, spraying each other with water guns, jamming to music, and tanning on the martingale. After lunch, we had a Leadership class. During class, we learned about authenticity and the importance of trustworthiness within a group. After class, we set up all of our dive gear and went for our first dive in Indonesia! During my dive, Lainey was our leader and took us around for her dive master certification. She did great! The visibility and wildlife were out of this world. We saw a black-tipped shark, blue-spotted stingrays, tons of sea stars, and an octopus! The soft corals came in every color and lined our entire dive. I got to swim in a strong current for the first time, which was way harder than I expected, but once we went with the current, it was like using a lazy river. We dove down 72 feet for about 35 minutes. We came back and got to take an ocean shower and had another amazing meal from Anna. Spencer’s birthday was today, he turned 18, so we all sang him happy birthday and Anna made him some butterscotch cookies. Before we go to bed, we have Navigation Glass with Gabe, and then it’s a wonderful bedtime! Tomorrow, we have a sunrise dive at 6:15 am, and then we are off to Fam Island! Hey, mom, dad, sisters, and brother, I love you all and miss you!